Sherlock Holmes Complete Works 1

Chapter 10 Research on Scarlet Characters 10
The news that Ray Mired brings is both important and unexpected.We were all stunned by the sudden news and couldn't say a word.Suddenly Gregson stood up from his chair and knocked over the drink.I looked at Holmes in silence, his brows were furrowed, his lips were tightly shut, and his face was serious.

Finally, Holmes said in a low voice: "Ster Jackson has been killed, and the case is more complicated."

"It's already complicated enough." Remired said as he sat down, "It's like I'm in a military meeting, and I can't figure it out."

Gregson asked in disbelief, "Is your news reliable?"

"I've just come back from where he happened, and this is the first thing I've found out about," Remired said.

"We have just heard Mr. Gregson's opinion of the case," said Holmes. "Can you tell us what you saw and how you acted?"

"Certainly," said Remired, "I admit at the outset that I was quite wrong in my original idea, and that Draper's death had nothing to do with Sturt Jason. I follow my original idea, Started looking for Ster Jason. Someone once saw him and Draper waiting for a train at Euston station at about 08:30 on the night of the 08rd. Later, at about 30 o'clock in the morning the next day, he was found on Brixton Road Draper's body. I thought at the time that if I found out where and what Ster Jackson was doing before the crime after [-]:[-], the case would be easy to handle. So, on the one hand, I took pictures of Liverpool a telegram describing Sterjenson, and to have them keep watch on American ships; Ster Jackson will surely stay near the station until Draper returns, and then go to the station next morning to wait."

"Perhaps they have made an appointment beforehand," said Holmes.

"That's the truth. I've been asking all night yesterday without any success. I started early today, and at eight o'clock I was at Halliday's private flats in Little George Street. I asked them if there was a Sturger living there." Mr. Johnson, they immediately answered yes.

"'You must be the gentleman he was waiting for,' said they; 'he has been waiting two days for a gentleman.'

"'Where is he now?'

"'He's still sleeping in the upstairs room. He says he won't wake him until nine o'clock.'

"'I'm going up to him at once,' I said.

"I thought at the time that my unexpected appearance would set his nerves on edge and say something. A waiter took me upstairs. The room was on the second floor, leading to it by a short corridor. There. After the waiter showed me the room, I was about to go downstairs, but I saw a scene. Even though I have been a detective for more than 20 years, this scene still makes me sick. A streak of red blood flowed out across the corridor and formed a puddle beside the other wall. I couldn't help but yelled, and the waiter turned back when he heard the yelling. This scene almost scared him to death. The door was locked, so we pushed it open with our shoulders. The window was wide open, and by the window lay the body of a man in his pajamas, curled up. His feet were cold and stiff. That meant he was dead. He had been dead for some time. When we turned the body over, the waiter recognized him at once as the gentleman who had lived in under the name of Joseph St. Jackson. The cause of death was a deep stabbing on the left side of the body. , appears to have gone through the heart. Then comes the strangest part of the case. Guess what's on the dead man's face?"

Holmes replied immediately: "It's 'Lache' written in blood."

"Exactly," said Raymond fearfully.

The unidentified murderer seemed methodical and inconceivable in his killing, which made his crime all the more horrific.Even though I was strong on the battlefield, I couldn't help feeling nervous when I thought of the murder scene.

Remired went on: "Someone claims to have seen the murderer. A milkman boy, on his way to the milk house, happened to pass the alley behind the hotel leading to the carriage house. He saw a ladder facing a window on the third floor. Standing vertically, the window was open, and the ladder was usually placed horizontally on the ground. The child felt a little strange, he walked over, and looked back on purpose. I saw a person stepping up from the ladder , came down slowly. He thought it was a carpenter in the hotel, so he didn't pay much attention to it, but felt that starting work so early was a bit different from usual. He vaguely remembered that the man was tall and wearing a long He was wearing a brown coat and his face was red. The murderer must have stayed in the room for a while after the murder, because there was blood in the water in the washbasin and blood on the bed sheet. It can be seen that he washed his hands after committing the crime and wiped it with the bed sheet. Wipe the knife."

Ray Mired's picture of the murderer was exactly what Holmes had surmised, but I could not see any complacent reaction from him.

Holmes asked: "Have you not found any useful clues to solve the case?"

"No. Only a Draper's money bag and a telegram were found. Because Stuart Jackson manages the finances for Draper, he usually carries that money bag. There are more than 80 pounds in cash in the money bag, which shows that the murderer It's not murder. And that telegram was sent from Cleveland a month ago, and the content was 'JH is now in Europe', without a signature."

"Anything else?" asked Holmes.

"There is nothing more doubtful. There is a novel on the bed, which the deceased must have read before going to bed. There is a pipe on the chair, a glass of water on the table, and a wooden box containing two pills on the windowsill. pill."

After hearing this, Holmes stood up from his chair happily. He shouted excitedly, "I have finally found the key link, and now my deduction is complete."

The two detectives stared at Holmes in astonishment.

Holmes said very confidently: "Now I have grasped every clue of this case, although some details are still unclear. The period from the breakup between Draper and Ster Jackson to the discovery of Ster Jason's body I have a clear picture of what happened in time, as if I saw it with my own eyes. Next, I will prove it to you, did you bring those two pills?"

"Here I am," said Remired, pulling out a small white box. "I brought the pills, the purse, the telegram. I thought I'd put them in a safer place in the police station." .I brought the pills purely by coincidence and without a specific purpose, because in my opinion, it is not something important."

"Put the pill here," said Holmes.Then he turned to me again and said, "Doctor, are these the usual pills?"

They're certainly not your usual pills.Gray in color, small and round, almost transparent to the light, like pearls.I said, "Seeing how light and transparent they are, I think they can dissolve in water."

"Yes," replied Holmes, "will you please go downstairs and fetch up that sick puppy now? That dog has been ill for so long, and the landlady asked you to kill it yesterday, so that it won't suffer any more. .”

I picked up the dog.Its rapid breathing and glazed eyes suggested that it would not live long.Indeed, its snow-white lips show that it has long outlived the average dog's lifespan.I put it on a mat spread out on the floor.

"I will now cut one of the pills in half," said Holmes, taking up his pocketknife, and cutting open one. "Put the other half back in the box for future use. I will put the half in the box." Into a wine glass with a spoonful of water. You see, our doctor friend was right, the pills are already dissolved in the water.

Now add some milk to the water to make it drink better, the dog will lick all the milk in front of him in no time. "

As Holmes spoke, he poured the contents of the glass into a plate, and placed it in front of the dog.The dog licked it up right away.Seeing the solemn expression on Holmes' face, we all sat there in confidence and silently, watching the dog closely, expecting some amazing results.However, no surprising results emerged.The dog was still lying on the mat, still breathing hard.Apparently, the pill did it neither good nor bad luck.

(End of this chapter)